


suspended in a defenceless test

by amargeet



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, Soft Boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 22:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16026935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amargeet/pseuds/amargeet
Summary: Tyler has had migraines for years now, but they hadn’t been this bad since before he had met Josh.And of course, Josh is here to help when they do get bad again.Or, Tyler gets a bad migraine and Josh cares for his best friend a lot.





	suspended in a defenceless test

It wasn’t much of a surprise that Tyler got migraines, considering that he literally had a song called Migraine. But they were worse than they seemed, and there was a time when they were worse than one to two a month. The doctors called them ‘Chronic Migraines’ and for most of his teenage years he had been on medication used to try and taper down the rate in which he got them. In the first years of his  _ adult  _ like, he barely got any at all, and the ones that he had allowed Josh to seen were the mild ones. Josh hadn’t been in his life long enough for him to know that those migraines were a lot worse than they seemed.

He had never seen the need to tell him – Josh, that is – about his migraines because in his eight years after turning eighteen, none of them had been serious enough for him to let anyone know.

Back when he was younger though… it felt like a matter of life or death that his friends and family knew so they could help while he was incapacitated.

He wished he had know that he wasn’t lucky enough for them to disappear completely.

It was a few hours after their last live concert for the Blurryface era. Their plan was to go on hiatus was nearing its start, and they had already posted the last posts they would be making for quite a while.

Tyler was in the tour bus waiting for Josh to return with celebratory Taco Bell when the migraine hit. It was stronger than any of the ones he had throughout the past few years. It felt stronger than any of the ones he had as a teenager.

It felt like he couldn’t breath as he tried to ignore the painful thudding in his head, and he fell off the couch and onto the floor clutching his head. He curled in on himself. There was no ignoring this one. The pain went on for what seems to be forever, and there was tears flooding uncontrollably from his eyes. He felt like he was dying in that moment. He  _ wished  _ he was dying, if it meant that he wouldn’t have to feel all this pain anymore.

The sound of the door opening felt like a gunshot echoing through his skull and he whimpered loudly in pain, clutching his hands over his ears in the hopes that it would get rid of all the noise.

He heard the sound of a bag dropping and feet running over to him. It was all too much. He wanted it all to stop, he wanted to go home to Jenna, he wanted Josh and his confidence in everything Tyler did. But there was too much going on in his mind and he didn’t even realise that Josh was sitting next to him as he cried for help without words.

A hand on his shoulder had him flinching wildly and was instantly removed. A voice spoke softly and it was like a blanket covering him in the middle of a storm. He could barely hear the words being spoken to him over the sound of his own mind.

“–ler, Tyler, hey, it’s okay. I’m here. You’re okay. I promise.” His head was carefully placed on a lap and Tyler opened his eyes just enough to see bright yellow hair above him.

He focused on that, on the yellow that shouldn’t have been as faking as it was when everything else was so bright and loud.

The hand returned, but this time to his head. The fingers that stroked his hands were soft, careful.

“You’re okay, Ty. I promise. Just come back to me, come on, that’s it.” It was Josh’s voice he was hearing, that ever constant calming presence that never left him. He blinked a few times and focused his eyes on the drummers face. The pain in his mind filled, just a little. Just enough. A drumbeat in his mind that he made himself associate with the presence of Josh.

“Josh…?” He whispered, and winced at the harsh sound of his own voice, all scratched up from crying and the concert earlier.

“Hey there.” Josh whispered back, “how are you feeling, Ty? Any better?”

Tyler breath out through his nose, in though his mouth.

“I’m sorry.” He said instead of answering the questions. Josh shook his head. Smiled.

“It’s okay, Tyler. Not your fault. Are you alright now? The floor can’t be very comfortable.” A hand rested against his cheek, he leaned against it and sighed. He nodded after about a minute of silence had passed.

Josh was patient. He helped get Tyler to his feet, directing him over to the couch.

Josh was right, of course. The floor hadn’t been comfortable at all. The couch felt a lot better against his back.

“Thank you.” He told Josh, and Josh sat down next to him. Took him in his arms.

“It’s alright.” He promised, “but… Tyler— what happened? What was that?”

Tyler kept his breathing even. There was still a thudding in his mind, but it was manageable now. Much better than earlier.

“A migraine.” He replied and watched Josh’s eyebrows shoot up. He knew why. Josh had seen him experience a migraine before, multiple in fact, but they had never been this extreme.

“They’re not usually this bad,” he shrugged, “they were, once. But that years ago. Before we were friends.”

Josh frowned. Tyler wrapped his arms around the drummers back.

“I probably should have told you. Sorry. The doctors said they could come back at any time. I should… probably get some more meds. I’ll probably have more like this, I think.” His lips quirked up, but there was no humour in his words, “sorry, Josh. Guess you’ll have to deal with me and my problems for longer.”

Josh pulled back from him. Put his hands onto his shoulder, his face looking determined.

“That’s fine, but it’s not a problem. I want to help you. Even without them, I’ll always be by your side, just like I’ve always been. I promise. I’ll have your back through everything, no matter what.” He smiled, “now, how about we go get those meds, and then we come back and write some songs?”

Tyler smiled. There were tears in his eyes, but they were of happiness instead of pain this time.

“Okay, that sounds good.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love these two, I really do. I suppose you could say this is Josh/Tyler, but Jenna and Tyler are the best and I couldn’t resist at least mentioning her. Anyway. Sorry Tyler, but at least your boy is there to help!


End file.
